Experts disagree on the effect fertilizers have on the Indian River Lagoon and even if a rainy season or dry season ban would work best. / FLORIIDA TODAY

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FLORIDA TODAY

Where cities stand

Most cities in Brevard County must adopt a fertilizer ordinance at least as strong as the state’s model ordinance. Some have chosen stricter regulations. Cities that have adopted an ordinance

Rockledge: In March, was Brevard’s first city to adopt a rainy season ban (June 1 to Sept. 30) on nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer use. Melbourne: This year, adopted the state model ordinance, without a rainy season ban. Indialantic and Melbourne Beach: Both adopted ordinances in 2010 that prohibit fertilizing during flood and storm watches or warnings or if heavy rain is likely. Brevard County: Adopted the state model ordinance in December 2012, with no rainy season fertilizer ban. Commissioners have agreed to reconsider. Cocoa: Adopted state model ordinance but staff plans to present other stricter measures, including a rainy season blackout, to the city council Dec. 10. Satellite Beach: Just passed a strong fertilizer ordinance that includes a June 1 to Sept. 30 ban on fertilizer use. Palm Shores: Adopted ordinance similar to state model (without a rainy season ban) in November 2011. Cities that have not adopted an ordinance

Cape Canaveral: First reading of a proposed ordinance that will ban fertilizer application during rainy season is expected to be on Dec. 17 agenda. Indian Harbour Beach: Has an ordinance in the works that’s similar to the state model. Cocoa Beach: First reading adopted state model, plus additional protections, including a rainy season ban. Second reading is Thursday. Grant-Valkaria: Council voted 5-0 against the state model ordinance during Sept. 25 first reading and plans a Nov. 20 workshop about the ordinance. Malabar: Has a proposed ordinance that includes a June 1-Sept. 30 ban on fertilizer use expected to go to town council Dec. 2. Melbourne Village: Plans on Nov. 26 to adopt an ordinance almost identical to Rockledge’s, which includes a June 1 to Sept. 30 ban on nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer use. Palm Bay: City council plans to discuss the issue Dec. 5. Earliest a first reading on a new ordinance could happen is Dec. 19. It’s uncertain whether the city will go with a rainy season fertilizer ban. Titusville: First reading of a draft ordinance that includes a rainy season ban is set for Nov. 26, second reading planned for Dec. 10 West Melbourne: Nothing planned.

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As algae browns the Indian River Lagoon, more local governments plan to ban fertilizer use during rainy months and enact other measures stricter than what Florida recommends.

Officials hope those moves will reduce the flow of nutrients into the lagoon. Scientists point to excess amounts of nitrogen and phosphorous as the cause of algae blooms that have wreaked havoc with the lagoon in recent years. The waterway’s environmental woes have become national news this year because of the unexplained surge in dolphin, pelican and manatee deaths.

Brevard County and its cities have been adopting laws regulating fertilizer use as a way of complying with a state mandate to reduce the amount of nutrients flowing into the lagoon. The state drafted a model ordinance for counties and cities to consider.

Many cities had awaited what Brevard County would do. Then late last year, the county passed rules that mostly followed state recommendations. But mounting public concern over the lagoon prompted commissioners to revisit the issue. Now, they plan to reconsider and possibly add other stricter rules, such as a rainy season ban on fertilizer use. So are others, despite a lack of definitive science on what works best or how much blame fertilizer should shoulder relative to septic tanks and other pollution sources causing the lagoon’s troubles.

“The mayors are begging for more research on this,” said Mayor Robert Downey of Melbourne Village. “We really want some more science on this, because there are some cities that are going to have to enact very expensive retrofits (on stormwater infrastructure).”

Because the state deems much of the lagoon “impaired” by nitrogen and phosphorus, more than a dozen municipalities in Brevard must adopt a local fertilizer ordinance, which at minimum follows the state’s recommended rules. They can go stricter, if they can prove it’s necessary to protect water quality and that they’ve considered the science.

The most controversial measure is to ban fertilizer use during the four-month rainy season, June 1 to Sept. 30. Conservation and industry groups disagree on the effectiveness of the bans and several other stricter rules, such as requiring zero phosphorus or slow-release nitrogen fertilizers.

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So far, seven of Brevard’s 17 local governments have adopted or are close to adopting a rainy season blackout. The rest prohibit fertilizer use when soils are saturated, during storm or flood watches and warnings, or have yet to decide on the matter.

In 2009, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection set nitrogen and phosphorus limits for lagoon basins, requiring 35 to 67 percent reductions in nitrogen and 47 to 72 percent reductions in phosphorus, according to a county presentation.

In February, DEP adopted action plans for local jurisdictions to meet those reductions. Local governments submitted $84.5 million in currently funded projects for the plans, but DEP says those will only achieve 7 percent of the required nitrogen reductions, according to the county’s presentation.

Fertilizer ordinances are among several other measures, such as education efforts, that local governments can take to get credit for up to a combined 6 percent of their overall required reductions in human-contributed nitrogen and phosphorus. Because it’s uncertain how effective they are, the fertilizer ordinance, alone, gets them only a half-percent credit toward the reductions.

Late last year, the Brevard County Commission adopted an ordinance nearly the same as the state’s suggested ordinance, which prohibited fertilizing during storm watches or warnings or when heavy rain is likely.

But at an Oct. 17 workshop focusing on the lagoon’s recent problems, commissioners decided to revisit the issue and reconsider a rainy season ban, wider buffer zones and other changes to strengthen the ordinance.

The issue is expected to go back to the board Dec. 17, where commissioners will clarify the direction they plan to take. Then in February, they’d hold a workshop on the issue.

Healthy grass does just fine without fertilizer during rainy season, some experts assert.

In March, as hundreds of manatees and pelicans happened to be dying in the lagoon, Rockledge agreed. Brevard’s oldest city became its first city to ban use of fertilizer containing nitrogen or phosphorus from June 1 to Sept. 30. Beyond the lagoon, Rockledge was concerned about the St. Johns River, where half the city’s stormwater flows.

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“The only opponent to it was the industry,” said Rockledge City Manager Jim McKnight. “And the industry, from everything I can tell, complied very well.”

The city held itself to the same rules as residents, and so far the grass hasn’t significantly browned the city landscape. “Looks like everybody’s lawns are about like they’ve always been,” McKnight said.

A week after Rockledge passed its ordinance, Melbourne adopted a softer ordinance similar to the state model and Brevard County. The city had taken the advice of Laurie Trenholm, University of Florida professor of environmental horticulture, who has been showing up at the city and county meetings to explainUF’s eight-year $4.2 million, DEP-funded study. The research found grass best absorbs nitrogen during the rainy season, so nutrient runoff can be worse if people overfertilize unhealthy grass during drier times. She told Melbourne officials a winter fertilizer ban would probably be more effective, though more research is needed.

Leesa Souto, executive director of the nonprofit Marine Resources Council in Palm Bay, doubts some of UF’s findings. She says they only scratch the surface of unanswered questions regarding lawn fertilizing and nutrient runoff. But in the end, it comes down to common sense, she said.

“The less nitrogen you put on your landscape is the less nitrogen that ends up in our waters,” Souto said.

Many local governments await results this spring of a study by the Tampa Bay National Estuary program, which has a several-year head start on the lagoon region when it comes to fertilizer ordinances. Its study is examining the nitrogen entering stormwater ponds, coupled with social surveys of homeowners.

Meanwhile, several Brevard cities are moving ahead with rainy season bans.

Cocoa Beach will consider one Thursday night and Malabar on Dec. 2.

Melbourne Village, a town of about 315 homes, also plans to consider a rainy season ban.

Last year, Rep. Steve Crisafulli brought together industry representatives and other stakeholders to consider legislative language that would have put a two-year moratorium on local fertilizer ordinances that went stricter than the state model, until a review committee could re-examine the science.

When asked if he’d support similar legislation next legislative session, Crisafulli said via email: “Water quality issues are very important to me. With specific regard to fertilizer legislation, I will wait to see if legislation pertaining to this issue is filed again. Until then, I can’t speculate about hypothetical legislation.”

Souto can.

“Every year, since 2007, they’ve tried to prevent local governments from doing this, so they’re going to try again,” she said.